As the IBLCE Regional Administrator (South Pacific and Asia) am aware of
many exam candidates who do not do formal courses.  Our candidates fall into
four broad groups:  those who do a formal course over a period of weeks or
months; those who do an intensive course over a period of days; those who do
a distance education package at home (we have many isolated candidates in
Australia and Asia); and those who get the required 30 hours of continuing
education from a variety of sources including conferences, local study
groups, in-service sessions, etc.  Most candidates supplement the above with
varying amounts of private study.

I think the most important issue is to know your own learning style.  Some
people learn a lot from lectures, others find private study best.  Some need
the discipline of a course, others are motivated home-learners.  Most adults
say they absorb more from "spread-out" learning opportunities, with time in
between to integrate their learning into practice.

Individual study requirements depend very much on the experience and
knowledge base you are starting out from.  The early IBLCE candidates did
well with no courses available, but they also tended to be the highly
motivated and very experienced practitioners (hello to you all).  Today
candidates sit the exam for a variety of reasons, including career
opportunities, and may need extra work to get the breadth of knowledge the
exam tests.

I sat the exam in 1989 with my OT background, knowledge and experience as a
NMAA Counsellor, CEUs from conferences plus study of textbooks.  I focussed
my study on the areas covered on the exam that were outside my personal
experience, which was all in the community.  I am not a good "home-studier"
but I find this field so fascinating it was hard to put the books down.  The
more I learned, the more  it made sense of my experience and the more I
wanted to know.  I still read lactation stuff in bed, but I haven't yet
attempted Lactnet Digests on the laptop in bed (with or without my
occasional co-sleeping 10 year old).  Is it possible?  Any true confessions?

Ros Escott    ( Tasmania, Australia)
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